This will most likely be a series of one shots, because I already have other works that are in progress. However, A Chorus Line's final chapter(s) are in the works, and I have almost finished Picture's next chapter and I also have been working on Greek Deaths' next chapter and Jin and Tonic's next chapter. It might seem like a lot, but really I need these outlets while I'm working on my thesis and dealing with other graduate school stuff. Enjoy!
They sat swinging on one of those two person swings that she had always been fascinated with as a child. It was only now, being eighteen, that she finally had someone who would ride on it with her without feeling it was childish or stupid. He seemed to understand loneliness, having no one that was like you and feeling like everyday you were choking, but not on the feeling of desperation to have some sort of comfort.
"Doctor?" She asked looking at him from where they faced each other on this odd seesaw. His face was turned towards the sky and his hands gripped the metal pole in the center for stability and support. It was now that he seemed quite like his appearance of only about twenty years, despite the bowtie. He made a noise signifying that he heard her, and she pushed on. "Why don't you stay?"
It was only then when she asked this question that he finally looked at her.
"Stay?" The question made him look so baffled that Hermione internally laughed at his expression, not many things made him look this way.
She nodded, "Yes, stay." She blushed and looked away while mumbling, "With me."
"With you." He said it in a long drawn out way that others might perceive as doubtful, and it was- sort of. She knew that he was more or less going through all the events in his long life, most likely pondering what exactly would happen should he finally stop moving. Hermione had perceived about midway through this summer's adventure, though for her it had been a year, that the one thing that the doctor feared now was to stop moving. Her speculation was that he believed that if he were to stop moving his past would catch up to him.
Not in a clichéd idea of people catching up to him to take revenge, more of his past would catch up to him mentally and without the distraction of constant movement and adventure he just couldn't bare the thought of what he would remember, what he would be forced to reconcile with. Finally he looked down from his stargazing and leaned towards her. He placed his chin on his clasped hands that still held the bar and stared at her.
"I can't do that."
Hermione nodded sadly, "I know. I just felt like asking." It was her turn to lean back, elongating her arms from the structure and letting her head fall so that her gaze landed on the millennium above her. "I must go back and complete my schooling." She could almost feel him solemnly nodding; they both shared the idea that a mind was a terrible thing to waste. "I can come with you on breaks and longer holidays, however no weekday trips, as I don't always trust you to get me back in time." Hermione could almost imagine the faux wounded look on his face.
"I am an impeccable driver." He stated.
"The TARDIS is a wonderful machine is more like it." Her tone was bland, but playful and the tension that had been sitting in the air, released.
"And you'll come with me then? To travel?" He asked her.
Hermione's face turned contemplative. "Quite possibly, or maybe you'll stay with me."
"Fat chance of that, yeah." She heard the Doctor whisper, however she ignored it. Her watched beeped.
"It's time I went inside and packed up my things. I've got to arrive at the Burrow tonight, I said I'd be there sometime between eighteen and half twenty one, and it is almost twenty one now." Recollecting herself, she stood and had a small smile appear on her face as the Doctor heavily pouted when his seat lowered from her lack of weight to balance him.
That is what they seemed to do, like no other partnership. The Doctor didn't have to worry about her being unable to protect herself, and she didn't have to hide her witchy self from him and further, she didn't have to slow down for him like she did with most others. In some ways she struggled to keep up with her intellect, however she found recently that she was slowly gaining ground on her dear friend and sometimes lover.
They had been traveling together off and on since her first trip when she was ten, an accidental trip in which she had accidental magicked herself into his TARDIS. This lead to long strings of trips, and unfortunately lies, for instance she had never truly gone to France with her parents like she had told Harry and Ron. Yes, she had gone to Paris, however it was in the 1500s and then again in the 1970s, with the Doctor.
She was now eighteen, as she was and always had been a year older than her good friends Ron and Harry, and thus able to do magick outside of school. Not that she didn't resort to it anyway; the Ministry couldn't track her through time and space. This was because, if she used magick in the future, her wand was already registered to her older self and thus it was allowed, in the past she either did not exist yet or her other self was tucked safely away at Hogwarts and thus her wand was allowed to do magick unchecked.
They had yet to solve the elusive problem of her growing old and dying, however she was working on a solution, slowly. A hand brushed her shoulder lightly and Hermione turned to face the Doctor. In a loving manner she reached up and tweaked his bow tie back into place and then nodded with a look of content. They made their way slowly out of the park and the three blocks down, two blocks up, and then one short commuter bus ride to her town. They had taken a down time for that day and Hermione had tried to show him the sights and locations that had meant to much to her. Upon reaching the small bus waiting station Hermione took them over to the bike rack and unhitched her moped.
Her bike wasn't anything special, it was just an older model in white that her father had picked up second hand for her so that she could take normal population, she had come to detest the word 'muggle,' classes and keep up on both sides of her education. She had roughly three semesters left of her University career, having finished her schooling at sixteen like any normal person, and for that her parents were thankful. It wasn't as though they detested magick, far from it; they just believed that Hermione would be behooved if she could function normally in both worlds. Astrophysics and engineering was a love of Hermione's since it involved using her brain in abstract forms and using math in ways that most did not dare to.
Tossing the Doctor a deep burgundy helmet and slipping on her own burnt orange one, Hermione slipped the keys into the ignition and they were off into the night. It was three blocks up and one block over when they came upon a medium sized cream coloured house with a deep green door. It had a small yard, as most homes do in this part of the country, and if Hermione wasn't careful the houses next door could easily see into her windows. Getting off the bike, she replaced the helmets into the holding bins on either side of the moped and walked it up the gravel side of the house and into the back yard through the latched gate. Her father had built a small awning to protect the bike from the elements and she now placed the bike there and hooked it up to the power system to recharge the battery.
She and the Doctor entered into the house through the back and walked through a dimly lit kitchen, her parents had been moved, by the Doctor, to a safe house in the wonderful planet of Galaztra in the solar system Yntyx. They were once again dentists and were happily living among the humanoid population of the planet. Hermione was glad to not have to worry about the safety of her parents in this wizarding war and knew that she had everything to thank the Doctor for.
She left him snacking in the kitchen and retreated to her small bedroom on the second floor to pack. The room had old and worn hardwood floors that were well maintained and cheerfully, though not overly bright yellowish cream walls. Her bed was crushed into a corner of one side of the room and the rest was filled with a desk, white in colour, two small dressers, and one bookshelf. Her closet held various types of shelving, which were half filled with books and other personal possessions and half filled with clothing. The overall appearance was neat and orderly and Hermione would not accept it any other way.
Her trunk was packed for the most part; Hermione just added a few odds and ends to a rucksack and reviewed her work. All her wizarding items were neatly tucked away in her layered chest, which was thankfully magickally enhanced like most enchanted trunks are. Her chest also contained various photos of the various Doctors. Her favourite being the stern faced Doctor Irvine, as she called him in her head. His ninth replication of himself bore a striking, in her opinion, resemblance to the television chef Robert Irvine, hence her little secret name for him.
They had not begun their off again, on again sexual relationship until the tenth incarnation of himself, and again through this eleventh one. They didn't worry much about his limited regenerating abilities, as the Council had only allowed a certain number of incarnations. Since the Council no longer existed, he was free game to live and Hermione was sure to make him do just that.
Grabbing her beloved pillow that she never left home without, Hermione nodded in a pleased fashion and shrunk her trunk and slipped it into a pocket in her trousers. Had this been a normal lazy day of summer, Hermione would be wearing her lazy track suit and buttons, however the Doctor had insisted that she not look like she just came off of a footie pitch and practice. Slinging her rucksack over her shoulder Hermione went to the door and flipped off the light switch. She would floo out of the house once she had shut down and sealed everything from burglary and other misfortunes.
A decisive swish and flick of her wand, not unlike the movement for wingardium leviosa all the windows on the second floor of the house snapped shut and locked. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs she repeated the motion and intention with the same results. She warded her beloved moped against whatever harshness the weather would bring and made sure that no snow could get through her wards and that her bike would be kept relatively warm. She then charmed the shed to remain shut, and the gate to remain shut. The doors were then charmed and warded against entry or exist, except on timer so that the Doctor could leave unhindered. The house keeping complete, she had already unplugged all appliances and cleaned out all perishable goods, Hermione stood in front of her fireplace, which had been temporarily attached to the floo network.
The Doctor stood in front of her and they had an awkward moment of unsurity before both stepped forward and embraced the other. "I'll miss you."
It was quiet and at first Hermione was unsure if she heard it.
"I'll miss you too, my Doctor." She was pretty sure that out of all his companions, only she ever called him, 'my Doctor'.
He didn't release her and Hermione didn't make a move to pull away. Her watch struck twenty-two and Hermione finally pulled back.
"Pick up a nice companion or two, however if you sleep with them I'll have to kill you." Her tone was warning, however it was also warm and playful. The doctor would never betray her trust, and they both knew that. She didn't mind if he kissed them, or even if he fell in love with them. He was a fickle sort of man, however Hermione knew that his heart really and truly belonged to and with her, and thus anything else was just a temporary situation.
The Doctor nodded and smiled at her, "Go be great."
Hermione nodded back at him and grabbed some powder before throwing it into the fire. Stepping in, she spared him one last look before calling out her destination and disappearing in a burst of green flames. The Doctor stood watching the fire for a few minutes more before banking it safely and exiting the home.
iBless! R&R
